Workers Online
Workers Online
Workers Online
  Issue No 32 Official Organ of LaborNet 24 September 1999  

 --

 --

 --

Sport

Chris Christodoulou on a Saintly Merger


Whatever the outcome of the this weekend's NRL grand final one thing is for certain - the merger between St George and Illawarra was not only necessary but natural.

 
 

Which one is Chris?

Necessary because the Steelers would not have survived on their own. And natural because St George have been the major beneficiary over the years of great footballers from the Illawarra: Changa Langlands, Craig Young, Lord Ted Goodwin, slippery Steve Morris, John Jansen. Many other ex-St George players finished their careers in Steel Town - Rod Reddy, Steve Rogers, Brad Mackay.

But more importantly, as a kid who grew up in Wollongong, we all wore St George jerseys to footy training and made a priority of trading the St George footy cards after school.

I joined the Wollongong Football Club because its strip was the same as St George. And none of the other clubs bothered to adopt any other Sydney club - they knew they wouldn't have got any players.

So you can see be now why I am totally comfortable with the St George- Steelers merger.

But let me try to be a little more objective. When the Illawarra Steelers joined the Sydney competition some 20 years ago Wollongong was a buzz. The year we nearly won the wooden spoon, Wollongong was still abuzz.

In the early eighties recession the one thing that kept some sanity in Wollongong amidst the steelwork redundancies and mine closures was the Steelers.

The point I'm trying to make is having no rugby league club in Wollongong was never an option. The Steelers management knew this when they made the pragmatic decision to merge with St George. The Steelers financially were on their last legs and the NRL's criteria could have seen Wollongong without a regional football team.

The real challenge for Wollongong was not so much the colours or the name but to have a rugby league team whose majority of home games would be played in Wollongong.

On Sunday at 4.30pm I have no doubt that St George-Illawarra will be doing the victory lap at the Olympic Stadium. The players will than travel the St George Leagues Club to begin their celebrations, but at 9pm they'll hop on a bus and head for Wollongong.

They'll arrive at WIN Stadium to the roar of over 10,000 people who would have been partying all afternoon in anticipation of the win.

Wollongong will again will be abuzz and our team will have finally come home.

Go you Dragons

Pick Chris Christodoulou from this footy team photo and be his guest for the first St George-Illawarra Wollongong home game of the 2000 season. The first correct entry will be the winner.


------

*   Win a date with Christodoulou!

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 32 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: His Daily Fix
Graham Richardson talks of his transition from national politics to talkback radio and his ongoing jobs as a fixer.
*
*  Politics: Requiem to the Third Way
The swing to Labor in Victoria shows clearly that once again Australian voters have rejected economic rationalism. The result, and the reasons for it, should worry John Howard.
*
*  International: A Common Struggle for Freedom
It may not get the headlines, but Western Sahara has some chilling similarities with East Timor.
*
*  Unions: Woolscour Workers say No to Peter Reith
Workers at Canobolas Wooltopping - a woolscour plant near Orange, in central west New South Wales, have just sent a message to Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith: thanks, but no thanks.
*
*  Legal: Outlawed Acts of Consicence
The recent boycotts in support of East Timorese indepndence highlights the extremism of Reith's second wave.
*
*  History: Was Manning Clark A True Believer
A Canberra history conference shines the spotlight on Australia's most famous historian.
*
*  Review: Paranoid Echoes
The calls to examine the Australian�Soviet documents in the Moscow Literary archives have grown in volume over the past year.
*
*  Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
The latest issue of Labour Review - a resource for officals and students.
*
*  Satire: Kennett Boosts Chances: Two More Independents Dead
Caretaker Premier Jeff Kennett today admitted that voters perceived him as arrogant and out of touch, but insisted that they were wrong.
*

News
»  Public Servants Seek Leave For Timor
*
»  Goodbye Green Bans - Dumped by the Wave
*
»  Government Rules Nobble Public Sector
*
»  ACTU Pushes On With Privatised Portal
*
»  Powerful New Years Eve Deal for TransGrid
*
»  Banks Grill Staff on New Fees
*
»  Off the Rails - Workers Gagged
*
»  Staff Frustration Boils Over at Sydney Water
*
»  Kennett Nose-Dive: Botsman Picks It
*
»  Academics Fail Non-Union Deal
*
»  Nike in Indonesia: Military Employed to Intimidate Workers
*
»  The Laugh�s On Barry
*

Columns
»  Guest Report
*
»  Sport
*
»  Trades Hall
*
»  Piers Watch
*

Letters to the editor
»  Freeloader Push on Track
*
»  It's Worse in Detroit
*
»  Working Class Aesthetics
*
»  WorkCover Inspectors: Shaw Replies
*

What you can do

Notice Board
- Check out the latest events

Latest Issue

View entire latest issue
- print all of the articles!

Previous Issues

Subject index

Search all issues

Enter keyword(s):
  


Workers Online - 2nd place Labourstart website of the year


BossWatch


Wobbly Radio



[ Home ][ Notice Board ][ Search ][ Previous Issues ][ Latest Issue ]

© 1999-2000 Labor Council of NSW

LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW

URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/32/b_sportspage_chris.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005

[ Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Credits ]

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW

 *LaborNET*

 Labor Council of NSW

[Workers Online]

[Social Change Online]